Radio Dramas Traditional and Post-Modern

Two different types of radio dramas are Traditional and Postmodern. A

traditional radio drama consists of a strong structured storyline, thats
familiar to people that enjoy radio dramas. There are many characters and
usually a narrator, the story is always to solve a problem and documents
the characters working towards their goal. Where traditional dramas, the
problems and questions are solved, Postmodern radio dramas leave
questions and problems open and leaves the audience/listener to answer
them themselves.

The Traditional radio drama I have chosen to critique is the BBC Radio 4
Drama; The Archers. The drama is a famous long running drama about
northern farmers, originally billed as an everyday story of country folk, it
is now described as contemporary drama in a rural setting. The show was
created in the aftermath of World War II to educate farmers and increase
food production. This became very popular and attracted 9 Million
listeners in 1953. The story of this certain episode is based in the rural
town of Ambridge. The towns folk are talking about the dress rehearsal for
the upcoming play, Mother Goose. The story continues to The Bulls
Great Escape event, where Elizabeth tells Debbie she thinks she's ready
for a new relationship. An intrigued Debbie is about to press Elizabeth for
further details just as Richard Locke joins them. He and Debbie are
pleased to see one another and reminisce over old times. In the Pub
Kenton, Lynda and Susan relax after the dress rehearsal and talk about
the towns recent relationships.

The Postmodern drama I have chosen is The Blind Mans Confession by

the website FinalRune.com. This drama is a fictional horror story about an
incident around a car crash and a strange figure that comes out the forest
around the character. The story is a flashback with a narration from the
main character in the story. The start follows the main character driving
round the stretching forest roads, when he suddenly crashes into a
patrolling police car. The main character is thrown out of the car down into
the river beside the road. He climbs out the river to discover the
policeman hasnt survived the impact. When he tries to asses the
situation, a man appears behind him with a gun to his back. The man
explains that hes a killer and asks why he should keep his life. After the
panic of reasons, he is knocked out to wake up without his eyes, never to
see again. This story leaves a lot of questions open to the listener and a
lot of the story can only be interpreted by the subtle hints given in the
drama.

The atmosphere of The Blind Mans Confession is conveyed to the viewer

through atmospheric background noise and sound effects, for example
rain is played to reinforce the Aural signposting of a forest. Some sound
effects arent as successful at immersing the listener than others, the car
crash is a good example of budget reasons restraining the quality of the
sound effects. This is a contrast to The Archers, where the background
noise and sound effects are very effective and high quality, making you be
able to pin point where you are with out dialogue. Another way that The
Blind Mans Confession generates atmosphere is the use of silence in
emotion parts of the drama, for example at 7:45, the main character
emotionally discusses that he has lost his eyes and will never see again.
The sadness in his voice sounds genuine, and they way he acts using
sniffles, for example, adds to the emersion and realism.

Whilst driving in the car, rock music is played to make the scene seem
more exciting and interesting. The music played portrays the mood and
speed the the driver is going. Unlike other examples the music does not
lower for the dialogue, this gives the impression that he is actually in the
car and further engrosses the listener. The traditional radio drama is
different in the way that music isnt used as a technique of portraying an
action, instead it is used as an aural signpost of where the characters are.
At around 1 minute 30 seconds, the car hes driving and the music in it
stops. This change of sound makes the listener believe that there has
been crash, since the lack of sound is so sudden. Silence is used in radio
dramas to pinpoint pivotal moments of the story. Another silence is when
the main character is at the end of the drama, the moment where he gets
knocked out by the mystery man. The silence is what signifies that he is
unconscious. The production, in parts, depends on the background sounds
and music for aural signposting and distinguishing locations. The most
prominent example of this is when the rain sounds start to fade in, this
both signifies that he is now outside and that he has awoken. The drama
ends with the main character in the hospital talking about the situation.

It isnt known what happens to the character that clearly. We are hinted
that the mysterious character has taken the main characters eyes. The
final line I shouldve known better than to f**k with god, signifies the
ending of the drama and allows the listener to resolve whats happened.
This is different to a traditional radio drama in the way that, something
like The Archers, would end in a cliff hanger ending making the listener
want to continue on in the series. The difference between The Archers and
The Blind Mans Confession would be that The Archers is a series, and The
Blind Mans Confession is a single episode short story. The story line of The
Blind Mans Confession is in a non chronological order, using flashbacks to
continue the story, with the main character looking back at what
happened through over time. The target audience for The Blind Mans
Confession would likely be fans of the Horror and Thriller genre, but in my
opinion fans of the drama creators, The Final Rune, are best suited for the
drama.

The traditional drama is The Archers. The Archers is a fictional drama set
in the rural village of Ambridge. The drama was set up in June of 1950 to
get the British public to think about agriculture and to increase
production. The episode opens with Debbie gathering costumes for the
Mother Goose dress rehearsal. She has to deliver them in time for the
actual rehearsal. This theme of story automatically appeals to an older
audience rather than a younger one. The aural signposting is used to
make apparent where the characters are. An example of a character
signposting with dialogue is in the final scene, where Kenton, Lynda and
Susan debrief after the dress rehearsal. The characters discuss drinks to
order, asking for Double Malibu and Coke and White wine. This intern
also subconsciously reinforces the social status of the characters, having
the posh sounding people order more expensive drinks and getting the
more everyday people to order cheaper drinks. Background sounds are
also used, for example; when Elizabeth tells Debbie she thinks she's ready
for a new relationship at the Bull's Great Escape event. The background
music is classical and fancy sounding, reinforcing that they are at an
event for the wealthy.

The opening and closing music for The Archers is very happy and
traditional sounding, this helps set the mood of the drama which is quite
relaxed and upbeat. This sets up the actions in the drama, but and also
compliments the cliff hanger ending, giving a happy undertone under
some tension between characters. Music is only used at the start and
ending of each episode, unlike The Blind Mans Confession where music is
used to create moods and atmosphere throughout. The only silences used
in this episode of The Archers is used to transition scenes and locations.
For example; a silence is used to transition the scene from the characters
dropping off costumes to Bull's Great Escape event. Following the
traditional style of storyline, there are no flashbacks used in The Archers,
unlike The Blind Mans Confession. The Linear Storyline structure keeps the
story understandable as a series; resolution of problem continuing into the
creation of problem for the cliff hanger ending. This is shown in the
episode by completing the delivery of costumes, calming down after the
resolution and then continuing into the cliff hanger, which in this case is
Elizabeth watching Debbie and Richard leave the pub together. This is
then followed by the theme music, signifying that the episode has ended.
This is different to The Blind Mans Confession, where all loose ends are
covered and the drama is left on a closing line. This shows the big
difference between a traditional and post-modern drama.

From this episode of The Archers, I can assume that, the target audience
is a more elderly generation that enjoys rural dramas. This use because of
the topics that are discussed throughout the drama, that wouldnt really
suit a younger audience. Some subjects that are in the drama do not
really suit a younger audience and may not understand the situations the
characters are in. An example of this is when the characters are at The
Bull's Great Escape event, Elizabeth tells Debbie she thinks she's ready for
a new relationship. And Debbie is about to press Elizabeth for further
details just as Richard Locke joins them. This kind of story is not
something a stereotypical teenager would want to listen to. The
characters are all middle age and discuss their lives, this would only relate
to people that have been through these situations. You can tell this by the
way the characters speak and communicate. This is also enforced by their
social class, thats indicated in their accent. The tone of the episodes is
overall quite cheerful yet informal, in a way that makes the listener enjoy
what is going on. The overall theme of the series is that you have
opportunities for relaxation and easily relatable.